Friendship Home

Fr. Alex, Ray, Bruce and Eli

by Eli Bautista

Saint Michael’s & Saint Edward’s Church, Brooklyn, NY is where it all began. The little parish in which the com­mu­nity of Fort Green gath­ered to have Mass, talk to each other, and become one family. In 2008 Heart’s Home entered our little parish and inte­grated them­selves in the com­mu­nity. At first we only saw them and spoke occa­sion­ally. As time went on, Sylvie Muller of Heart’s Home, came up to us and began the best thing that could have hap­pened to any one of us. The Heart’s Home Youth Group is where we (Ray, Bruce, Junior and myself) began to talk, play, eat, share, expe­ri­ence and learn all that which to a larger extent we still do now. While we may not spend too much time with Heart’s Home, our friend­ship with each other as well as with the mem­bers of the group keeps growing. The Youth Group became a net­work of sup­port for each one of us and it has helped us grow as people and as friends.

Although we are growing up now, we are not sep­a­rating from each other just because we are no longer youth. Instead, we vir­tu­ally do any­thing and every­thing together and we are involved in each other’s lives. Whether it is advice, favors, work, time, money we always sup­port each other. We teach each other values, truths, and the tools we need to obtain that which we need in life. This is what keeps us together and helps us grow: the depen­dency to becoming inde­pen­dent human beings. We always have each other’s backs, whether it be work or life related. The ideas we share with each other helps us as indi­vid­uals examine our­selves. This ulti­mately helps us make our­selves better, which makes the group as a whole better. Our friend­ship is an ongoing exchange of ideas and sup­port which places the needs and views of each person into per­spec­tive.

On behalf of Ray, Bruce, Junior and myself we would like to thank and encourage the Members of Heart’s Home past, pre­sent and future. We appre­ciate the time we’ve spent together. Every occa­sion that we are together strengthens our bonds with each other.